Posts

We successfully got two of our candidates onto the ballot for August and November. Michael White is running for Governor, and Tiffany Anderson is joining him as Lieutenant Governor. Unfortunately, Nathan Pelkey (Treasurer) and Brad Karas (Secretary) didn’t make it on the ballot.

Many thanks to each petitioner who helped on this. Special thanks and gratitude to those petitioners who gather hundreds of signatures.

For first-timers 🙂

Use a clipboard with a rubber band holding the bottom, so the wind doesn’t catch you off-guard.

Use a cover sheet in a plastic slip, with a picture of the candidate and a little information. (Put finished sheets away when completed.)

You are allowed to fill out spaces, except for the signature space, if the elector has trouble with writing. The information has to be legible.

Put the candidate forms back to back. Have them sign each, but only put the address on the first. You can finish the rest. (Filling out multiple forms can be frustrating for them.)

Wear a button, T-shirt, etc. to identify as a Green Party worker.

Where to Petition

Festivals, parks, universities, community events, libraries, bus stops, anywhere people gather in public in large numbers.

The most effective spots are where people are waiting around for something. I have gotten some of my largest numbers in front of food trucks.

Door to door is okay, but that’s probably a max of 10 signatures an hour as opposed to a max of about 50 signatures an hour.

Make sure to get all your family and friends to sign. They are easy yes answers for you.

Don’t be timid if anyone tells you to leave. Sidewalks, street festivals, parks, bus stops, outside University buildings are all fair game. Don’t let any security tell you off because it is one of your first amendment rights.

If they try to debate you, it’s usually best to walk away (They don’t want to sign, and they are wasting your petitioning time.)

Remember the Pillars

Be able to recite a few things about the candidates, and if you are at a loss for words, remember the four pillars:

Social justice

Peace

Ecological wisdom

Grassroots Democracy

Tips from WIGP Cochair Dave Schwab

My pitch:

“Excuse me, hi! Are you eligible to vote in Wisconsin?”

If yes: “Great, can you help me out quick with a signature to get Green candidates on the ballot and give people another choice?”

I ask them to help me out, because psychologically people are more inclined to help someone who is volunteering on the street than to do something for a cause they likely don’t know much about. The word “quick” reassures them it won’t take long.

Many people support giving people more choices on the ballot, even if they don’t support the Green Party in particular. If they are reluctant, I repeat, “This is just to get them on the ballot and give people another choice, it doesn’t mean you have to support them.”

Focus on the common ground of agreeing with more choices on the ballot. You will generally work more quickly and effectively this way.

Remember: it’s a numbers game. Some people will say yes and others will say no, but if we ask enough people then we’ll hit our target.

Don’t take anything personally, and don’t engage with grumpy people.

Take inspiration from the supportive people.

Plan enough time to hit your personal signature goal.

Four clipboards is a bit of a challenge, but it’s doable. I’ve been petitioning with Nathan Pelkey, and if it seems people’s enthusiasm is waning after the first couple of sheets, I mention that my friend Nathan (right over there) is running for State Treasurer. They’re more likely to make the effort if they see you know the candidate, or if they see the candidate is out there working to get on the ballot. Since many of us know at least one candidate we’re petitioning for, this could really help.

Make sure you can read what they wrote before letting them go, because you’ll need to fill the rest in.

Go out to events with a buddy or a team to encourage each other and show new petitioners the ropes.

Have fun and be proud of yourself for working for a cause you believe in!

Notes by Tom Rodman

Setup the context quickly in your opening line:

“Help us put Green Party candidates on the fall Wisconsin ballot.”

We need 2,500 signatures to put the Green party candidates on the fall (November) ballot.

Consider taking a small cardboard box to hold at least two clipboards each with your nomination forms, and several pens. You can put signs on the cardboard box to explain the goal.

Carefully use blue Painter’s tape to anchor a sheet for a different candidate on both the front and the back side of the clipboard.

Have a couple of index cards – if you can not read their printing, have them print their name again on the index card, and then correct the form later.

Have the signer fill out one candidate’s nomination form in full. Next have them sign and print first and last name for all the other candidate nomination forms; then you fill in the incomplete fields on the other nomination forms, copying from their first entry. They need to sign each form at minimum, since the signature cannot be forged.

Do not fill in the page number field in lower left. That will be done by other Greens before final submission.

Do not put the date in, at the bottom, until you are done collecting signatures for that sheet. That date must be the same day or later than any signature on the form.

Please join us Saturday, March 17th from 2 pm – 4 pm as we continue our state-wide campaign for moral justice. This meeting will layout our action plan and the role you can play in improving the lives of poor people in Wisconsin. You will also hear from faith leaders, community organizers, and impacted citizens who have embraced this moral struggle for justice.

When: Saturday, March 17th from 2 pm – 4 pm

Where: Lake Edge Lutheran Church 4032 Monona Dr, Madison, WI 53716

History of the Poor People’s Campaign

In 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others called for a “revolution of values” in America, inviting people who had been divided to stand together against the ‘triplets of evil- militarism, racism, and economic injustice to insist that people need not die from poverty in the richest nation to ever exist.

This nation-wide coalition of poor black, white, brown, native people and grassroots and community organizers built the original Poor People’s Campaign. Notable participants included: Myles Horton of the Highlander Center, Loretta Two Crow of National Welfare Rights, Cesar Chavez of United Farm Workers, Al McSurely of the Appalachian Volunteers, Phillip Bernstein of the Council of Jewish Federation and Welfare, Tillie Walker of the United Indian Scholarship Fund, and John Lewis of the Southern Regional Council.

The Call for a New Poor People’s Campaign

Our social fabric is stretched thin by widening income inequality while politicians criminalize the poor, fan the flames of racism and xenophobia to divide the poor, and steal from the poor to give tax breaks to our richest neighbors and budget increases to a bloated military. The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has emerged from more than a decade of work by grassroots, community and religious leaders, organizations and movements fighting to end systemic racism, poverty, militarism, environmental destruction & related injustices and to build a just, sustainable and participatory society.

GREATER MILWAUKEE GREEN PARTY STANDS WITH MENOMINEES AGAINST BACK FORTY MINE

The Greater Milwaukee Green Party stands with the Menominee tribe against construction of the Back Forty Mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The tribe recently filed suit to prevent the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from issuing the final wetland permit allowing Aquila Resources to fill Menominee River wetlands to build a large open-pit sulfide mine near Menominee tribal lands.

The tribe’s suit focuses on forcing the federal government to control decisions that could pollute waters that pass through more than one state. The Menominee River forms the border between Upper Michigan and Wisconsin.

Milwaukee County delegate to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC), and GMGP co-chair Barbara Maniotis said “It’s unnerving to think that the same Michigan government that approved diverting drinking water in Flint from Lake Michigan to the Flint River would be allowed to destroy wetlands for a mine.”

“Wisconsin has had scientists aid in major environmental decisions for a long time,” Maniotis said. “Opening up this mine goes against common sense measures to protect our water system and those long held values of consulting and trusting expert scientists to determine whether or not to move forward on a project that could have massively detrimental effects to our natural resources.”

If approved, the Back Forty mine threatens to leach sulfuric acid into local groundwater and the river.

“The Greater Milwaukee Greens have stood for indigenous treaty rights since its founding in the 1980s,” GMGP co-chair Greg Banks said. “We will continue to fight with them, especially in defense of the environment.”

His mother carefully taught hims as young child how to behave in rich white peoples homes around white adults and children his age, as she worked as a housekeeper in Patrick Cudahy’s house. The freeway project forced a move as he grew up, causing a black migration – he describes the reaction of whites to new black neighbors. He thinks it can be strategic to use the word ‘biased’ instead of racist when appropriate. Yes there is "implicit bias".

Dr. Harry Oden

Former basketball player – 1 of 3 blacks at Univ MN/ Duluth; 60+ but still athletic. Very ‘big on public schools’. Was discriminated against in MPS after college. MPS delayed hiring, once hire he was given "bad assignments". Found his niche in MPS as teacher, and honored administrator; did much to mediate/reduce conflict among students, and between student factions, black and white. Judge a person by what is coming from their heart, not your first auto-impressions. Racism in education is as rampant as ever. Unfortunately education about profit now.

question and answer starts at 53:18

Tim Burns – WI Supreme Ct Candidate

Not a speaker, just one of several politicians there. Had good discussion w/him about economics.